I breathed a sigh of relief of course it was my imagination. It was late in the middle of the night and I had a lot on my mind. I smiled to myself and left the dorm room. I walked down the stairs and made my way to the door. I opened it and made my way to the track. It was only about a two minute walk from my dorm. When I reached the track and I entered I glanced around and undressed, taking off the clothes I had worn to Sabrina’s yesterday, and put on the clothes I had brought from my dorm. I put on my black leggings and a yellow sports bra. I stretched my arms then put my hair up into a ponytail. I turned around then my heart stopped. 

“HARRY??” I squealed, jumping. He dropped the flashlight he was using, his face flashed a bright red as he turned quickly, clearing his throat. “Was that you at my door??” I nearly yelled. He turned around quickly, narrowing his eyes. 

“What? No?? Someone was at your door?” I nodded. “No it wasn’t me, me and Lance are fighting so I didn’t go home...” he said quietly. I felt terrible for him, from what he’d told me, his dad was a money hungry, druggy. 

“Oh... I- I’m sorry.” I said quietly. Harry nodded, then breathed in sharply. 

“So I came here, I figured I’d run to get my mind off of i-“

“You saw me naked!” I said loudly. What the hell was I thinking!!? Who the hell just yells that!? “I-I um...” Harry busted out into laughter. Wow i don’t usually see him laugh. That was something huh? I’ve known the guy for years now and Ive see  him smile like ten times total. I laughed nervously along with him trying to play off how terribly awkward I was being. Harry finished his laugh and pointed to the track we were in front of. 

“I assume you came to run? Not just change?” He joked. I nodded. “I’ll run with you.” He said smiling. I nodded, Christ is that all I could do? Just smile and nod? We moved onto the track and the motion sensors picked up on us, turning the stadium lights on. Harry was dressed in a grey tank top, and black sweatpants. We quickly stretched our legs than started the first lap. Wow he was... slow. I had to seriously hold back to keep pace with him. I didn’t wanna just bust out my super speed and knock out the five miles I usually run for a warm up. There was nothing but our breathing for the first lap then Harry spoke up. 

“You wanna race??” He asked excitedly. I turned my attention to him quickly surprised at the question. 

“Uh- Yeah sure.” I said. “I’m not goin’ easy on ya though.” I said Harry turned back to the track. 

“Alright first one to complete this lap wins.” He said. I smiled and nodded. When we passed the gate we had entered from, electricity fired through my legs and I took off at full speed around the track, coming to a screeching holt. Wow... Harry kept going. In a little under a minute he stopped next to me, laughing... again with the laughing, it felt weird seeing him laugh. Harry put his hands on his knees breathing heavily. I smiled, patting his head. 

“Aw you did good.” I teased. 

“Alright then...” Harry panted. He snapped and pointed to the ground. “Push ups! Let’s see who can do more.” I rose a brow, And put a hand on my hip. 

“Oh come on now, that’s not fair.” I argued. Harry was already down on his hands and toes, ready to do a push up. 

“You just ran a lap in under a second, you can’t complain.” Harry said, doing a push up. “I’m getting aheaaad.” Harry taunted. Dammit I was competitive, I dropped to the floor and started a push up. Harry smirked. “That’s the spirit!” He roared doing more and more push ups. I did one, two, three.... four...... five good lord this was harder than I thought it was gonna be. I put my knee down and sat up, cocking my head at Harry. 

“Thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight.” Harry muttered to himself. He glanced over and smiled at me. “Fine I’ll make it harder.” He laughed, metal coated his body. I crossed my arms.

“Now you’re just showin’ off.” I grumbled. He stopped at a hundred, and hopped up. 

“Aw. You did good.” Harry smiled, patting my head. I felt my heart skip a beat and I jumped up to my feet. Harry stumbled back startled. 

“Sit ups!” I yelled. Harry rose a brow, then smiled, dropping to the floor. We both started doing sit up after sit up. Harry tapped out first at a hundred, I finished at around one twenty. We both sat up. Harry put his hand to his chin, then he smirked. He stuck his hand out and a large, metal dumbell formed in his hand. He started doing bicep curls. 

“Your kidding me.” I said, panting. 

“No ma’am!” Harry laughed “four hundred pounds of pure metal!” He curled the weight about forty times before dropping it at my feet. I looked down, then back at him, narrowing my eyes I bent down, gripping it with my right arm. I curled upward, but the weight didn’t budge. I rose a brow, and grabbed it with both hands... nothing. Harry triumphantly put both hands on his hips and smirked. I stood up straight and shook my head smiling. 

“I believe I’ve met my match.” I joked. Harry smiled and fell to the floor, exhaling loudly. 

“Thank god, cuz I am exhausted!” He groaned. I laughed and sat down next to him. There was an uncomfortable silence before I cleared my throat and spoke.

“So... the grad exam.” I muttered. Harry sat up quickly. 

“Are you worried about it?” He asked quickly. I nodded. 

“Thank god!” He yelled. I cocked my head. “That someone else is nervous too!” He corrected. “I thought I was the only one.” Harry breathed. I smiled. It was unlike Harry to display such an intense, emotional response. 

“Of course I am! If we fail we’re not Magi... and then... that’s it.” I muttered. “And all our training will be for nothing.” Harry nodded in agreement. 

“Luke’s not even considering the fact that he might lose.” Harry said. 

“Luke’s a sociopath.” I joked. “But I honestly think he’ll beat whoever he’s matched up against.” I said. Harry nodded.

“He’s creative in the way he fights.” Harry muttered. 

“So are you!” I protested. “I don’t see anyone fight by coating themselves in their element! Plus metals everywhere nowadays!”

“I don’t know. He put me to shame in our match earlier.” 

“Don’t talk like that. You lost sure, but so did I, and Caleb!” 

“But you both fought pure magi...” Harry muttered.

“Harry...” I said putting a hand on his arm, good lord he had big muscles... “you’re letting your dad get into your head. Pure magi aren’t more powerful than variants...” Harry sighed. “And either way, Luke is insane, I doubt anyone could have beat him.” Harry stood up. I glanced up at him. He breathed heavily then looked down at me, smiling. 

“Thanks.” He said. That was typical Harry. Very minimal amounts of words but a pretty strong meaning behind them. He reached a hand down, I grabbed it, and rose a brow as he practically lifted me up on his own. 

“I know I don’t, but don’t you have to sleep?” I asked. Harry sighed and shook his head. 

“No I tried...”

“A lot happened yesterday, huh?” I asked. Harry nodded. “You think they’ll find the oak?” I asked trying to make conversation. I didn’t want to leave, and risk this being the only time Harry and I get to talk alone. 

“Well they can break down those barriers...” he muttered. “... but according to Mr. Stevenson, the defensive Magi who live on the tree are insanely powerful.” Harry muttered. 

“I’m hopeful they’ll find it.” I muttered. Harry smiled. “I... I know you said you weren’t tired but it’s... very cold out here do you mind if we go back to my dorm?” I asked. Harry’s face grew red. I scolded myself in my head, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that but it sounded like I was trying to get him to sleep with me. 

“Sure...” Harry muttered. “... I-if you’re cold.” We walked back to my dorm room. At this point it was around three in the morning. It took us about two minutes to reach the inside of my building. We walked up the staircase and into my dorm. I sighed. It was much warmer in here. Harry crept quietly, trying not to wake Sadie, to my bed and sat down. I looked at him and rose a brow. 

“You look exhausted.” I said putting  A hand on my hip. “Lay down please.” I said worried he would pass out if he didn’t get sleep, of course in typical me fashion, I’d managed to make it sound uncomfortably awkward again. Harry was quiet for a moment then he laid back on the bed and took a deep breath, he slowly closed his eyes. I smiled and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower. I undressed and stepped in. It was freezing, per usual dorm water temperature. I shivered and tried turning the temperature up. It warmed up slightly, enough for me to actually step under the water. I undid my pony tail and tossed the hair tie onto the bathroom sink, I let my hair down, and ruffled my hands through it, wetting it before washing It. When I finished my shower I stepped out onto the tile floor and dried myself off, tying the towel around my body. I stepped out into the main room and my heart stopped Sadie was standing above Harry, poking at him. 

“What the hell!” I whisper yelled at Sadie, she jumped and turned to me, smirking. 

“You did it!” She whispered excitedly. 

“He’s just sleeping! He doesn’t live on campus but he didn’t want to go home! Go back to your side and go back to sleep!” I whispered angrily. Sadie shrugged and moved back to her bed. 

“He IS surprisingly good looking though. Good job girl.” Sadie said covering herself in her blanket and drifting back off to sleep. I rolled my eyes and got dressed in what I was going to wear for tomorrow, a white sweater, and a yellow skirt. I then sighed and lied down between the two beds, on the floor. I obviously wasn’t tired but there wasn’t much else to do... I sighed and stared up at the ceiling it was a surprisingly good night... but- the hell was that? I heard a noise outside the door, and my heart began pumping quickly again. The footsteps were back... i was terrified... this time they didn’t move away from door. 

“Harry...” I whispered. No answer... “Harry..!” I whispered a little louder. Then I heard more footsteps... they didn’t sound like the first set... Holy shit there were more of them! Whoever was out there... there were now two of them “Harry!” I whispered even louder. 

“Be quiet!” Harry whispered loudly at me. “They’ll hear you.” My heart stopped beating quickly... I felt... safe. I breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m going to stand up slowly and make my way to the door... don’t move, don’t speak.” Harry ordered, moving himself off my bed. I gulped as he slowly crept to the door. I pointed my hand forward getting ready to fire off a spell if I had to. Harry reached for the door with his right hand, while looking through the eye hole on the door. He moved his left hand behind his back holding up two fingers, letting me know there were two people outside. Harry quickly gripped the door knob and flung the door open quickly, he rushed outward, grabbing with his right hand. 

“Ones running!” Harry yelled, I stood up  and rushed to his side. I turned to the left and saw a man running to the window at the end of the hallway it was dark, so I couldn’t see any features. I point my hand and fired a bolt of lightning forward, it shot passed his head, shattering the glass. The man nearly fell over, but kept running. He lunged through the window, dropping from view. I panted and turned to see Harry. He was breathing heavily, he had one of them in his right hand, choking him, against the wall. 

“Who the hell are you??” He growled. The man was dressed in a dark green cloak, some sort of wooden, painted mask blocked his face from view. The man clawed at Harry’s hand. 

“H-Harry...” I muttered. Suddenly the man’s image wobbled and he melted to liquid in Harry’s hand. The liquid puddled at Harry’s feet, then disappeared. Harry panted angrily, then turned to me, quickly. “Well...” I breathed. “...That can’t be good.”